The bubonic plague has recently cropped up in the U.S. for the first time in nearly a decade. But, thanks to modern medicine, it is much less deadly than its notorious past. During the 17th century the village of Eyam, Derbyshire, England in 1665 dealt with the plague and helped prevent its spread.
FASCINATING UK VIDEO (2 mins) THE TOWN THAT STOPPED THE PLAGUE
When 'The Great Plague' struck 17th Century England, one rural community took decisive action that was unusual for the time, but still fascinates centuries later. VIDEO: https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0hc5p1y/the-town-that-stopped-the-plague
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Second video - This was during the height of the COVID pandemic- and includes a reference to the 17th century event... history repeated itself
https://youtu.be/fjm7MJZpH_o?si=Vkan7_hFf_05fKz1
Here's the background from Historic UK.com:
Eyam had two Reverends. Thomas Stanley had been dismissed from his official post for refusing to take the Oath of Conformity and use the Common Book of Prayer and Reverend William Mompesson had worked in the village for a year. Aged 28, Mompesson lived in the rectory with his wife Catherine and their two small children. Both highly educated, it was the actions of Stanley and Mompesson that resulted in the outbreak of plague in Eyam being contained to the village and not spreading to the nearby city of Sheffield.
A three point plan was established and agreed with the villagers.
1) The most important part of this was the setting up of a Cordon Sanitaire or quarantine. This line went around the outskirts of the village and no Eyam resident was allowed to pass it. Signs were erected along the line to warn travellers not to enter. During the time of the quarantine there were almost no attempts to cross the line, even at the peak of the disease in the summer of 1666.
2) Eyam was not a self supporting village. It needed supplies. To this end the village was supplied with food and essentials from surrounding villages. The Earl of Devonshire himself provided supplies that were left at the southern boundary of the village.
3) To pay for these supplies the villagers left money in water troughs that were filled with vinegar. With the limited understanding they did possess, the villagers realised that vinegar helped to kill off the disease.
Other measures taken included the plan to bury all plague victims as quickly as possible and as near to the place they died rather than in the village cemetery. They were correct in their belief that this would reduce the risk of the disease spreading from corpses waiting to be buried. This was combined with the locking up of the church to avoid parishioners being crammed into church pews. They instead moved to open air services to avoid the spread of the disease.
The village of Eyam, while undoubtedly saving the lives of thousands in the surrounding area, paid a high price. Percentage wise they suffered a higher death toll than that of London. 260 Eyam villagers died over the 14 months of the plague out of a total population of 800. 76 families were affected by the plague; many such as the Thorpe family were wiped out completely. However the impact on medical understanding was significant.
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